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Frequently Asked Questions Retirement

Family Benefits

The survivor benefit you elected at retirement is no longer payable. A monthly survivor benefit would be payable to your former spouse after death if one is provided by court order or your new election.

The following conditions must exist for your former spouse to receive a benefit:

You were married to your former spouse for at least nine months;

You performed at least 18 months of creditable civilian service;

Your former spouse to whom you were married less than 30 years has not remarried before age 55.

Your annuity may be reduced if your former spouse was awarded a survivor annuity by a qualifying court order.

If you retired on or after May 7, 1985, we will honor the terms of a court order that requires you to provide a survivor annuity for an eligible former spouse for a marriage dissolved on or after May 7, 1985. If you are divorced after retirement from a spouse to whom you were married at retirement, we will honor the court order to the extent that your annuity was reduced at retirement. If you did not elect a survivor annuity for that person at retirement, your annuity will not be reduced.

If you retired before May 7, 1985, we will honor the terms of a qualifying court order that requires you to provide a survivor annuity for an eligible former spouse in connection with a marriage that was dissolved on or after May 7, 1985, but only if you were married to that person at retirement and elected to provide a survivor annuity at that time or your were married to that person at retirement and elected to provide a survivor annuity before May 7, 1985.

Your first regular monthly payment is the first one paid in an amount other than the estimated amount or the adjustment payment after we have computed your regular annuity amount.

If you change your election to anything other than the maximum, you must obtain your spouse's consent or a waiver of the consent requirement.

After the 30 day period has passed, you can change your election only under the following circumstances.

If it is more than 30 days from the date of your first regular monthly payment, but less than 18 months from the beginning date of your annuity, you may change your decision not to provide a survivor annuity or you can increase the survivor annuity amount. You must request the change in writing at:

You must also pay a one-time payment representing the difference between the old and new election amounts. This one-time payment also includes a percentage of your annual benefit. The percentage is 24.5 percent of your annual benefit if you are changing from no survivor benefit to a full survivor benefit or 12.25 percent if you are changing from no survivor benefit to a partial one. Interest is also charged at the rates shown in this table.

Your written election should include your claim number, the amount of your new survivor election, and your spouse's name, social security number, date of birth, and a copy of your marriage certificate

OPM provides a federal tax calculator on our website, www.opm.gov/retire, that may assist you in determining the amount of Federal income tax to withhold. Please be advised that changing the amount of your Federal income tax withholding will not reduce your tax liability at the end of the tax year.

Monthly payments to a surviving spouse generally continue for life unless your spouse remarries before age 55. If your spouse was married to you for at least 30 years, he or she can continue receiving benefits when there is a remarriage before age 55 occurring after January 1, 1995.

A divorce, legal separation, or annulment court order may require that an employee or a retiree provide a survivor annuity for a former spouse. We will pay based on the court order after a death-in-service or after the death of an annuitant. If the benefit will be based on a court order, employees and retirees [or their former spouses] need to send us a court-certified copy of the court order. Send this to:

If you are still working for the Federal Government, you should also provide a copy of the court order to your personnel or human resources office. All court orders involving garnishments or allotments of your payments from us must be sent to the address given above.

The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act was passed by the United States Congress on December 16, 2010 and signed into law on December 17, 2010. As a result, the IRS published the tax withholding tables later than usual for 2011. OPM applied the tax tables as quickly as possible but there was not enough time to apply these tables to the January 3, 2011 annuity payments.

If you are in good health and you retire for reasons other than disability, you may elect to provide a survivor annuity to someone with an insurable interest. You can elect to provide an insurable interest benefit and the maximum benefit for a spouse or an ex-spouse. Spousal consent is not required. However, if you are married and elect an insurable interest benefit for your spouse, spousal consent is required.

If you elect an insurable interest benefit, you are responsible for arranging for and paying the cost of any medical examination required to show you are in good health. A report of the medical examination should be included with your retirement application.

You can elect to provide an insurable interest annuity only for someone who has an insurable interest in you. "Insurable interest" is an insurance term which applies to someone who would reasonably expect to derive financial benefit from your continued life. For survivor benefit election purposes, an insurable interest is presumed to exist if you name as beneficiary of the insurable interest, any of the following individuals:

a spouse;

a blood or adopted relative closer than first cousins;

an ex-spouse;

a person to whom you are engaged to be married; or

a person with whom you are living in a relationship that would constitute a common-law marriage in a jurisdiction that recognizes common-law marriages.

If the person named is not one of the above, you should submit affidavits with your retirement application from one or more people with knowledge of the individual's insurable interest. The affidavits should state:

the relationship between you;

the extent to which the person named is dependent on you;

the reasons why the person named might reasonably expect to derive financial benefit from your continued life.

The reduction to provide an insurable interest benefit is computed as follows:

If the person named is older, the same age, or less than 5 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 10 percent;

If the person named is 5 but less than 10 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 15 percent;

If the person named is 10 but less than 15 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 20 percent;

If the person named is 15 but less than 20 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 25 percent;

If the person named is 20 but less than 25 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 30 percent;

If the person named is 25 but less than 30 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 35 percent; or

If the person named is 30 or more years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 40 percent.

The insurable interest automatically ends if the insurable interest dies, if you marry the insurable interest and elect to provide a spousal benefit, or if the named person is your spouse and you change your election to provide a spousal survivor benefit.

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